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South Side Man Convicted In Teenage Boy’s 2008 Murder

CHICAGO (STMW) — A man was found guilty on Friday of shooting a teenage boy to death at a South Side convenience store in 2008.

Sebastian Rodriguez, 20, was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of 13-year-old Sameere Conn, who was shot while buying snacks at a shop after football practice on Oct. 1, 2008, according to a statement from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office.

Conn was with a group of friends at the counter of the store in the 2500 block of South 106th Street when Rodriguez walked up to the store’s glass door with a .357 caliber blue steel revolver, firing numerous shots through the door and into the store at the group, the statement said.

The boy was shot in the abdomen and hands and died at a hospital the next day. A 27-year-old man was also wounded in the shooting but he later recovered from his injuries, according to prosecutors.

Rodriguez was arrested the day after the shooting after being identified by eyewitnesses, and police found the revolver at his home, prosecutors said.

In the days before the shooting, Rodriguez told witnesses that he wanted to kill Conn and at least four other people on a “death list” he had written, prosecutors said.

A jury convicted him late Friday night after a week-long trial at the Leighton Criminal Courts Building, according to the statement.

Rodriguez could face life in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 11.